Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles

From the New York Times best-selling author comes the definitive history of one of the greatest battles ever fought - a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of Napoleon's last stand.

The English and Their History

Robert Tombs' momentous The English and Their History is both a startlingly fresh and a uniquely inclusive account of the people who have a claim to be the oldest nation in the world. The English first came into existence as an idea, before they had a common ruler and before the country they lived in even had a name. They have lasted as a recognizable entity ever since, and their defining national institutions can be traced back to the earliest years of their history.

Marlborough: His Life and Times

John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough (1644-1722), was one of the greatest military commanders and statesmen in the history of England. Victorious in the Battles of Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706) and countless other campaigns, Marlborough, whose political intrigues were almost as legendary as his military skill, never fought a battle he didn't win. Marlborough also bequeathed the world another great British military strategist and diplomat, his descendant, Winston S. Churchill.

The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945

One of America's preeminent military historians, James D. Hornfischer has written his most expansive and ambitious book to date. Drawing on new primary sources and personal accounts of Americans and Japanese alike, here is a thrilling narrative of the climactic end stage of the Pacific War, focusing on the US invasion of the Mariana Islands in June 1944 and the momentous events that it triggered.

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War

Britain's Special Air Service - or SAS - was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young, gadabout aristocrat whose aimlessness in early life belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a battlefield map of World War II's African theater and saw a protracted struggle with Rommel's desert forces, Stirling saw an opportunity: Given a small number of elite, well-trained men, he could parachute behind enemy lines and sabotage their airplanes and war matériel.

Operation Thunderbolt: Flight 139 and the Raid on Entebbe Airport, the Most Audacious Hostage Rescue Mission in History

On June 27, 1976, an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris was hijacked by a group of Arab and German terrorists who demanded the release of 53 terrorists. The plane was forced to divert to Entebbe in Uganda - ruled by the murderous despot Idi Amin, who had no interest in intervening. Days later, Israeli commandos disguised as Ugandan soldiers assaulted the airport terminal, killed all the terrorists, and rescued all the hostages but three who were killed in the crossfire. The assault force suffered just one fatality.

American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804

The American Revolution is often portrayed as a high-minded, orderly event whose capstone, the Constitution, provided the ideal framework for a democratic, prosperous nation. Alan Taylor, two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, gives us a different creation story in this magisterial history of the nation's founding. Rising out of the continental rivalries of European empires and their native allies, Taylor's Revolution builds like a ground fire overspreading Britain's mainland colonies, fueled by local conditions, destructive, hard to quell.

Peter Stephens says:"Best book on the American Revolution that I have read"

A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks", conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in Braveheart). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort, traveled to the Holy Land, and conquered Wales. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments. Notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land

The Crusades is an authoritative, accessible single-volume history of the brutal struggle for the Holy Land in the Middle Ages. Thomas Asbridge - a renowned historian who writes with "maximum vividness" (Joan Acocella, The New Yorker) - covers the years 1095 to 1291 in this big, ambitious, listenable account of one of the most fascinating periods in history.

Somme: Into the Breach

No conflict better encapsulates all that went wrong on the Western Front than the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The tragic loss of life and stoic endurance by troops who walked towards their death is an iconic image which will be hard to ignore during the centennial year. Despite this, this book shows the extent to which the Allied armies were in fact able repeatedly to break through the German front lines.

In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire

Adrian Goldsworthy has received wide acclaim for his exceptional writing on the Roman Empire - including high praise from the acclaimed military historian and author John Keegan - and here he offers a new perspective on the empire by focusing on its greatest generals, including Scipio Africanus, Marius, Pompey, Caesar, and Titus.

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East

In The Fall of the Ottomans, award-winning historian Eugene Rogan brings the First World War and its immediate aftermath in the Middle East to vivid life, uncovering the often ignored story of the region's crucial role in the conflict.

SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome

In SPQR, world-renowned classicist Mary Beard narrates the unprecedented rise of a civilization that even 2,000 years later still shapes many of our most fundamental assumptions about power, citizenship, responsibility, political violence, empire, luxury, and beauty.

Washington's Immortals: The Untold Story of an Elite Regiment Who Changed the Course of the Revolution

In August 1776, a little over a month after the Continental Congress had formally declared independence from Britain, the revolution was on the verge of a sudden and disastrous end. General George Washington found his troops outmanned and outmaneuvered at the Battle of Brooklyn, and it looked like there was no escape. But thanks to a series of desperate rear-guard attacks by a single heroic regiment, famously known as the Immortal 400, Washington was able to evacuate his men, and the nascent Continental Army lived to fight another day.

History Reader says:"Groundbreaking masterpiece on American Revolution"

1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 signaled a shift in history and the end of the Byzantium Empire. Roger Crowley's listenable and comprehensive account of the battle between Mehmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Constantine XI, the 57th emperor of Byzantium, illuminates the period in history that was a precursor to the current jihad between the West and the Middle East.

The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945; Citizens and Soldiers

As early as 1941, Allied victory in World War II seemed all but assured. How and why, then, did the Germans prolong the barbaric conflict for three and a half more years? In The German War, acclaimed historian Nicholas Stargardt draws on an extraordinary range of primary source materials - personal diaries, court records, and military correspondence - to answer this question. He offers an unprecedented portrait of wartime Germany, bringing the hopes and expectations of the German people to vivid life.

Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu

Like Gettysburg, Stalingrad, Midway, and Tet, the battle at Dien Bien Phu - a strategic attack launched by France against the Vietnamese in 1954 after eight long years of war - marked a historic turning point. By the end of the 56-day siege, a determined Viet Minh guerrilla force had destroyed a large tactical French colonial army in the heart of Southeast Asia.

The Medici: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance

Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Interwoven into the narrative are the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists with whom the Medici had dealings, including Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello as well as scientists like Galileo and Pico della Mirandola.

In the Hour of Victory: The Royal Navy at War in the Age of Nelson

When Napoleon eventually died in exile, the Lords of the Admiralty ordered that the original dispatches from seven major fleet battles - The Glorious First of June (1794), St Vincent (1797), Camperdown (1797), The Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801), Trafalgar (1805), and San Domingo (1806) - should be gathered together and presented to the nation. These letters, written by Britain's admirals, captains, surgeons, and boatswains and sent back home in the midst of conflict, were bound in an immense volume, to be admired as a jewel of British history.

The Flame Bearer: Saxon Tales, Book 10

From the day it was stolen from me, I dreamed of recapturing Bebbanburg. The great fort had been built on a rock that was almost an island. It was massive; it could be approached only on land by a single narrow track; and it was mine. Britain is in a state of uneasy peace. Northumbria's Viking ruler, Sigtryggr, and Mercia's Saxon queen, Aethelflaed, have agreed to a truce. And so England's greatest warrior, Uhtred of Bebbanburg, at last has the chance to take back the home his traitorous uncle stole from him so many years ago.

A History of Britain: Volume 2

The British wars began on the morning of 23 July 1637, heralding 200 years of battles. Most were driven by religious or political conviction, as Republicans and Royalists, Catholics and Protestants, Tories and Whigs, and colonialists and natives vied for supremacy. Of the battles not fought on home territory, many took place across Europe, America, India, and also at sea. Schama's examination of this turbulent period reveals how the British people eventually united in imperial enterprise, forming 'Britannia Incorporated'.

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944

The devastation of Pearl Harbor and the American victory at Midway were prelude to a greater challenge: rolling back the vast Japanese Pacific empire island by island. This masterful history encompasses the heart of the Pacific War - the period between mid-1942 and mid-1944 - when parallel Allied counteroffensives north and south of the equator washed over Japan's far-flung island empire like a "conquering tide", concluding with Japan's irreversible strategic defeat in the Marianas.

Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

This is the dramatic story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, this is a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden. Fighting at twenty-five thousand feet in thin, freezing air no warriors had encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear.

A Brief History of Fighting Ships: Brief Histories

This introduction to the years of the Napoleonic Wars (1793 to 1815) tells the story of one of the keys to that great conflict, the ship of the line - the deadly battleships that played such a vital role in the battles. The author describes the ships' construction and armaments, the daily life of the men who served, and the problems faced by commanders of the time in battles that include the Glorious First of June, the Battle of the Nile and Trafalgar.

Publisher's Summary

The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Saul David's comprehensive history, All the King's Men: The British Soldier from the Restoration to Waterloo, read by the actor Sean Barrett. "The British soldier," wrote a Prussian officer who served with Wellington, "is vigorous, well fed, by nature highly brave and intrepid, trained to the most vigorous discipline, and admirably well-armed...

These circumstances explain how this army ... has never yet been defeated in the field." From the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the Downfall of Napoleon in 1815, Britain won a series of major wars against France that enabled her to lay the foundations of a global empire. By Waterloo, she was the paramount maritime and industrial power in the world, and would remain so for much of the nineteenth century.

This is the story of that extraordinary century and a half of martial success and the people who made it possible: the soldier-kings William III and the first two Georges; the generals Marlborough, Wolfe, Moore and Wellington; and the ordinary British redcoats who - despite harsh service conditions that included low pay, poor housing, inadequate food and brutal discipline - rarely let their commanders down in battles as far afield as Blenheim, Plassey, Quebec and Waterloo.

This highly detailed and super interesting book exceeded my expectations on every single level.The narrator was excellant,the facts well researched ,and the story told in a very accessable way.It is quite simply one of the best military/social histories I have listened too-Ive listened to alot as well-BUY THIS BOOK NOW

Well studied and covers much detail. Does focus on the leaders such as Marlborough and Wellington and ends at Waterloo which is where is said it would but would of been nice to go through the 19th Century. Perhaps SAul David could write part-two'. Never the less you can read Richard Holmes 'Redcoat' to cover most of that - another excellent book. What I really liked about this book was the British side of the 'War of Independence'. Most books seem to cover the US side of things but it is nice to see another perspective. I now plan to listen to Bernard Cornwalls 'The Fort' which will cover John Burgoyne's 'Saratoga campaign', actually I guessing on that one, but it sounds close. It is fictional, but I think it will give a rather accurate idea of the campaign. I think 'Jack Absolute' novel covers this campaign as well.Anyway, a good study, well put together and nicely finished. If you are into studying military history, soldiers, 18th & 19th century especially British, then this is a must. I am so happy I listen to this book as Sean Barett has done an excellent job presenting it and Saul David in writing it.

What did you like best about All the King's Men? What did you like least?

This book purports to be a study of the British Army from the Restoration to Waterloo. In fact, its much more the summary of the British Army's major wars, campaigns and actions as told through 4 of its leading commanders than about the army itself. Certainly there are sections which cover the common soldier's life and lot, and the system for the purchase of commissions, but I expected and would have preferred a more thorough analysis of the army itself - how it was formed, led, fed, moved, and drilled.

The book does provide a great overview from the point of view of wars and campaigns, but overall it felt like it tried to cover too much ground in too little time.

Have you listened to any of Sean Barrett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Like most audio books, I think that this should be listened to at double speed, otherwise the narration is simply too slow.

What did you like best about All the King's Men? What did you like least?

Best:This is a highly recommended book if you want to learn about the British Army between the Restoration and Waterloo. for covering such a broad topic David goes into great detail more then on might expect making particular studies of the early years of the regular army, Duke of Marlborough, James Wolfe, The American War of Independence, and the Duke of Wellington.David also clearly tries his hardest to use as many primary sources as possible, especially when such a general history could probably get away only one or two sources per era.This book is informative and highly recommended, but I suggest it is more meant for people who are not looking an in depth study of every event in the century and a half covered.

Worst:Saul David makes a few little mistakes here and there, nothing major but if you know them they are particularly jarring (for example referring to a French rifle bullet at Waterloo).This is a personal issue but David seems pretty determined to 'prove' Marlborough was a superior commander to Wellington, as such the former has his faults glossed over while Wellington gets pulled over the coals and is accused of being over cautious or to much of a risk taker depending on the battle. The level of detail is sporadic for example when talking about the American war of independence every campaign until Saratoga gets decent detail and then David declares that's the point the war was lost and fighting continued for a few years after, with almost no further information.The last problem is the use of the word 'major' to make generalisations, winning every major battle or war is repeated constantly and makes much of the book come off as just the parts of history that Saul David likes.

Did Sean Barrett do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Sean Barrett's narration is good if a little monotonous but really comes alive when he adopts an accent for primary sources so I really can't complain, and on its own I would have given narration 4 stars but the editing drags it down to three. Words that had to be re recorded for whatever reason are jammed into sentences and it really makes the listening experience jarring because Barrett sounds like he is reading the reinserted word as a quote, for the sake of a clearer production they should have asked Barrett to re read the entire sentence that then just part of it.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

This would never be a film but it did make me want to watch Waterloo again

Any additional comments?

Despite my nit picks this is still a good book.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Aaron Forward

Sussex, UK

10/31/12

Overall

"Well rounded and interesting."

Although there are slightly confusing sections (especially when lots of people have the same name) this book gives a great overall picture. It jumps around different campaigns across the world but sticks around long enough for you to get a good feel for what the conflicts are really about. The author seems to give a fair analysis and the voice acting is very good. Would recommend if you're interested in this kind of thing.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Alexander

Great Dunham, United Kingdom

1/4/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"In depth detailed history, well put together"

What does Sean Barrett bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

For a detailed dry subject he delivered life and sole to the work, with a comftable rhythm and pass.

Any additional comments?

For such a detailed history, this work covers so much information, historical context and back round either social or political leading to the fields the men of the army found them selves standing on. A very accomplished work with out being to dry and drawn as some historical factual books can be.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Mr.

Glasgow, United Kingdom

7/8/14

Overall

Performance

Story

"Really splendid narrative history."

This is a thorough and accessible history of the rise of the British redcoat. Using the careers of Marlborough, Wolfe and Wellington as its focal points, it touches all the high points from the Seven Years War to Waterloo, but does not shy away from failures like the American War of Independence or Cumberland's losses in the Low Countries. Elegantly written in simple, uncluttered prose, this is beautifully read by Sean Barrett, whose masterly phrasing, tone and pacing cannot be too highly praised. Just a cracking listen.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Komerade Snowflake

United Kingdom

4/13/13

Overall

"Very well researched and very well read"

A very enjoyable book covering the rise of the British Redcoat in the period of the Seven Years War, the poor leadership during the American Revolution, and triumphant return during the Napoleonic wars.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

SeaEagle1453

UK

3/15/13

Overall

"A great overview of the early British army"

Saul David provides an excellent overview of the development of the British Army from Charles II to the defeat of Napoleon inter weaving the broad picture of the major campaigns and development of army organisation with accounts from some of the soldiers themselves. I found this reportage element engaging and added an extra dimension to a study that could have become quite dry otherwise. David's writing style is effective and Barrett's narration provide gravitis. I have given it 4 stars rather than 5 as I would have liked a little but more of the soldier's eye view and on occasion I did feel that Barrett's delivery did begin to waiver a little becoming a little on the slow side, although this might be me being unfair as I listened to it in large chunks. On the whole an excellent piece of work very well read.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Marcus

London, United Kingdom

5/8/12

Overall

"GB rules!"

A greatest hits of the British army; The war of the Spanish Succession, the Seven Years War, the Napoleonic wars. The only downer is the American War of Independence, although that is probably the best part of the book.

There are good clear accounts of the war, and the major battles. The main commanders are described and evaluated. There is some description of the changing tactics, and the lives of the soldiers, and a few first hand accounts are weaved into the narrative. Enjoyable, but not essential.

2 of 5 people found this review helpful

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